Arycanda

Arycanda (Arykanda) is a unique Lycian
city, built upon five large terraces ascending a mountain slope, and was
known for having the most pleasure and entertainment-loving (and
debt-ridden) citizens. The city overlooks a magnificent valley and
its view makes it one of the most spectacular sites in Lycia.

Located near the small village of
Aykiriçay, on the Elmali-Finike road.

View over the bath complex

Arycanda is known to be one of the oldest Lycian sites - its name ends
with -anda, indicitive of its Anatolian origin dating back as far as the
second millennium BC. Some of the oldest coins of Lycia (5th c. BC
were also found here during a recent digging; the site is under
continuous excavation.

Arycanda survived through Byzantine
times, until the 9th century when the settlement moved to a new site
south of the modern road.

Excavations and restoration work in
recent years have succeeded in unearthing a beautiful city,
well-organized with the look of an architectural model.

Luckily for us, whether due to
landslides, earthquakes or the difficulty for robbers in getting
material down to the sea (there were sites nearer to the sea for that),
Arycanda has not lost much of its large-scale materials except for the
columns of the agora. Also, with no large settlement nearby in
later years, many things have been spared the lime-kilns, at least none
have been found on site yet. Since much of the site has been
protected by landslips, the limestone of Arycanda's buildings looks
quite fresh.

Some features of this magnificent city include:

Largest bath complex in Lycia,
on the lowest terrace, still virtually intact in its sequence of arches,
next to the gymnasium.

Agora, some of the shops in its
eastern part can still be seen. It is wide and flat, located to the
south of the odeon and was enclosed on three sides by a portico.

Amphitheatre, in excellent
condition, built during the 2nd century AD. 20 rows of seats, divided
into 7 sections. At the edge of every row are holes that were used to
support protective awnings.

Odeon - 2nd century AD. The
main entrance is to the south, though a triple portal. This was once a
very ornate building, the interior was lined with orthostats and the
walls, orchestra and seats were once covered with coloured marble. A
frieze over the portal bears a portrait of the Emperor Hadrian flanked
by cartouches bearing masks and heads of deities in relief.

Stadium, from the Hellenistic
period, above the theatre, in the form of a running track. It is
smaller than a usual stadium, measuring 106 m. long and 17 m. wide. A
few step-like seats on its north side are all that remain of the
stadium.

Necropolises, there are two of
them, and the one on the entrance to the site is very interesting with
its series of richly decorated funerary monuments. The eastern
necropolis has barrel-vaulted monumental tombs, temple-tombs and
sarcophagi and the western necropolis has rock-cut tombs and
barrel-valuted tombs.

Bouleuterion,
where the council met, located on the northwest slope of the city at the
end of a 137 metre long stoa. The building is set into a mountain
slope, with rows of seats cut into living rock.